Hilaria Baldwin, wife of Alec Baldwin, has responded to claims she has been "pretending" to be of Spanish heritage. This comes as social media users have started accusing her of faking a Spanish accent.
And so, Hilaria, a yoga instructor, took to Instagram on December 27 to post a seven-minute video in which she explained that she was born in Boston but spent much of her childhood in Spain.
It hasn't escape people's notice, though, that her own management's biography of her states that she was born in Mallorca, a Spanish island.
The podcaster also reportedly said in an interview that she did not move to the US until she turned 19, which is when she went to university in New York.
Hilaria Baldwin responds to allegations she's 'pretending' to be Spanish:Hilaria captioned the post: "A bit about me. I’ve seen chatter online questioning my identity and culture. This is something I take very seriously, and for those who are asking— I’ll reiterate my story, as I’ve done many times before.
"I was born in Boston and grew up spending time with my family between Massachusetts and Spain. My parents and sibling live in Spain and I chose to live here, in the USA.
"We celebrate both cultures in our home—Alec and I are raising our children bilingual, just as I was raised. This is very important to me. I understand that my story is a little different, but it is mine, and I’m very proud of it."
Hilaria went on to explain in the video that her accent changes because she regularly switches from Spanish to English and vice versa. She also said she combines the two when she gets "nervous or upset".
The 36-year-old revealed that she went by Hillary in the US and Hilaria in Spain, before eventually "consolidating" under Hilaria.
People started becoming suspicious when a video of Hilaria asking how to say cucumber in English - despite seemingly speaking perfect English - was shared online.
In response to the discussion about her heritage, alleged former classmate David Golan wrote on Twitter: "I went to HS with Hillary Hayward Thomas in Boston and she had no accent, was archetypal northeastern prep schooler. we all mythologize ourselves, but her pretending to be ESL is a level of exaggeration that seems problematic."
Meanwhile, Alec Baldwin posted a video appearing to defend his wife, without naming her.
"We live in a world now where we're hidden behind the anonymity of social media," he said.
"People feel that they can say anything," Alec added. "They can say anything. They probably would like to do anything if they weren't at risk of getting caught and going to prison."
Alec's daughter and Hilaria's stepdaughter Ireland Baldwin has also commented on the controversy.
"It’s so pathetic that anyone would wanna play detective, and dig that deep into someone’s life that they don’t know, don’t know anything about, how they were raised, who they were actually raised by. It’s just kinda sad and pathetic," Ireland said in a video on her Instagram Story on Sunday.